‘LOST GIRL’ TALK: Michael Grassi on “Big in Japan”

‘Tis the season for giving, whether that’s in terms of actual gifts, love or other … love-related things. So it’s kinda tragic that at this time of the year us Lost Girl lovers were given an episode in which our dear Bo, the sexiest succubus around, couldn’t give herself or others the pleasure of her, well, greatest pleasure. But then again, as we saw by the end of Sunday’s episode (“Big in Japan”), her gift was only taken away for a little while and once it returned, she was able to really cash in on it with none other than a certain werewolf.

But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. We got to speak with Lost Girl showrunner Michael Grassi about everything that happened in “Big in Japan” and you can read the full Q&A, which includes some interesting info about Bo and Dyson, as well as Bo and Tamsin, below!

So let’s talk about the big reveal of the first part of the episode, which was Bo not having a sex drive! I’m assuming that was the thing “we’ve never seen before” you were referring to last week?

Michael Grassi: That is correct. It’s been five seasons now and we were kind of wondering what it would be like for Bo if she lost her sex drive and lost her powers as well. We wanted to explore that and how it affects everyone—Dyson, Lauren, Tamsin—and how Bo navigates taking a case without her power and her sex drive and going into situations like a massage parlour where you usually go to someone to get information and now that’s a lot more challenging.

It was an interesting twist for Bo and I’m surprised you didn’t do it previously. Is it something that you had talked about previously in the writers’ room and just not gotten around to doing?

MG: We came into Season 5 and the brainstorm and it was one story we were really excited to tell this season. It was just the perfect time for it. Kenzi leaving brings up one of Bo’s biggest fears—being alone—so I think she had to deal with that fear to regain her power.

Was the loss of her sex drive purely psychologically, or was there a secret, bigger picture reason for it?

MG: You know we see her talk to Trick, we see her sort of ask the question ‘Is this part of my life? Is this part of me getting older?’ and it is purely a psychological thing in the episode. It’s her not dealing with Kenzi leaving and the fears that brings.

But in general a succubus can go through a dry spell and come back from it in the Lost Girl world, like with Aife?

MG: It is possible, as we heard Trick talk about with Aife.

We also got a Dyson/Bo hook-up at the end after teasing it in the beginning, but can we really say that they are indeed No Strings Attached? Are they just going to keep being Friends With Benefits for the next little while, or should the Byson fans out there still have hope for something more?

MG: [Laughs] Bo is a succubus and her heart might be torn in different places. In terms of where her heart lies, in this episode it’s more about Kenzi. In terms of her relationship with Dyson, they’ve laid out some serious groundwork in terms of how they feel for each other. I think they make it very clear about where they stand about their relationship right now.

I guess other people see it too, in that Lauren felt okay about her getting it on with Dyson.

MG: I think what’s really unique about Lost Girl is that in Season 5 now they all understand that the way she feels and the way she functions is through feeding through sex. That’s complicated and there are complicated emotions and I do think that Lauren understands who Bo is and what she needs to do.

Especially when she’s as weak as she was and in need of new energy!

MG: Exactly! And Dyson was one of the first Fae Bo fed off, so she knows that she heals off of him.

Getting to the other plot of the episode, I really enjoyed the Lost Girl-powered twist in that the sister revealed herself to be the warrior that Mushashi was claiming to be. How important was including that as a mirror to Bo’s own journey towards returning to her own warrior form?

MG: So, so, so important. This episode is really exciting because I feel like it’s back to basic Lost Girl. We get back to our gang, we get back to a case. We also get back to Bo working with a new partner. Kenzi leaving brings forward a new question of who Bo is going to work with on cases. We sort of see Tamsin try to be the new Kenzi in a weird way and what Bo really needs is the unapologetic and awesome Tamsin.

In terms of what the case is and unveiling the true warrior, we always like to echo back to what’s happening with Bo. It helps ground the story and we were excited to find this really amazing balance between what Bo was going through and the case. The writer, Alex Zawrowny, came to us in the brainstorm with this amazing Japanese mythology and we wanted to explore it because we’d never done it on the show before.

So, to clarify, the human plunger fate thing was taken from actual mythology?!

MG: Yes! [Laughs] That is absolutely taken from mythology and it’s interesting because it’s actually something that we’ve talked about for a while now but just never got a chance to do it.

Wow. That’s disgusting and nightmarish, but also hilarious?

MG: And horrible! That myth is actually representative of the fear of going to the bathroom in the night. The origin of that myth is really interesting. I recommend you all look it up!

Going back to Tamsin, awesome Kill Bill reference, which you teased a few episodes back. But also it’s been really interesting watching Bo and Tamsin’s relationship develop more. When everyone was trying to reassure Bo in the room, telling her that they really cared about her and she wasn’t alone, Tamsin went the tough-love route. But should we assume that underneath it all she feels the same way about Bo?

MG: Tamsin’s an interesting partner for Bo. She’s been around a long time, she’s lived many lives and she definitely has her way of doing things. She’s different than Kenzi and as far as her navigating being this new partner, we’ll see that as the episodes progress.

In terms of her feelings for Bo, I think she’s still figuring that all out. I think what we’re seeing from Tamsin right now is that she’s really happy to be included in this group. I think we sort of got that sense in the movie scene as well. We’re going to see not only what it’s like for Tamsin to be partners with Bo, but also roommates.

Do you have any idea what movie they ended up settling on? Were there werewolves or not?

MG: [Laughs] Well, they settled on horror. But what could they have watched? Good question….

Let’s say they watched The Conjuring. I think they watched The Conjuring.

Alright. That’s a good choice. It’s relatively modern and doesn’t have any particular creature allegiances.

MG: Exactly!

We learned a bit more about Amanda Walsh’s character here as well. Her name is Elizabeth, she’s part Fae, she really likes lipstick….

Sorry! What I was going to get to was she can apparently come back from the dead as well, and she seemed surprised to be alive, not to mention surprised that she’s not invisible. How much should we read into those things and could they be clues to what she really is, or who she really is?

MG: I don’t know if she was so much surprised to be alive as gaining her bearings. But I think there are some clues in that scene—she wants to be seen and confirmation that she’s really there. It’s definitely a mystery.

What can we expect from next week’s episode? I know last year we got a holiday-themed instalment involving Krampus.

MG: We always want to do a holiday episode, but we didn’t know our airdates yet when were mapping out the season, so we didn’t do it this year. But next week we have to look forward to a new exciting case and not only that, but also the return of Vex. We are excited about that last one because Paul Amos is so incredible!

Everyone’s excited to see Vex back!

MG: It’s a very exciting episode written by the wonderful Steve Cochrane and I’m excited for everyone to watch. There’s a lot of big stuff coming and it’s going to shake up the world.

Emily is one of the founding members of Cinefilles, a former TV Guide Canada writer and editor and an admitted heroine--note the added e, please--addict. When she's not slaying you with her rhetorical devices, she's probably watching a Late Night Comedy, Teen Horror, or Because You Watched Good Burger on Netflix. Twitter: @emilygagne.

14 Comments

I don’t get it. Aren’t they supposed to be trying to make Bo likable again? This episode turned her back into exactly the same ass people have been hating for 1.5 seasons now. And the messing around with Dyson etc… who the hell wants that? Who thinks that represents development?

Not even Anna Silk can save the version of Bo they’ve been writing these days. Remember how wonderful this character was in S2, how big her heart was? How much you rooted for her?

Grassi thinks Lauren is “fine” with the way Dyson keeps getting excuses to bone Bo, has he not seen the seasons previous to when he started working? Lauren explicitly and uniquely stated her difficulty with it being Dyson.

And this is supposed to be the “fixed” version of the show, and these characters, after the S4 trainwreck?

I think it’s time to give up on LG. I keep giving it chances, and it keeps blowing it.

This episode was totally worthless and weak. A continuation of the cesspool that was S4. Gay showrunner destroys/abandons the lesbian storyline. Wasting an episode like that in the final season is just stupid.

This episode sucked. Asshat bo is back – so much for clear headed bo. Bang Dyson in Laurens lab while she waits outside? Asshat bo. Next time ask grassi if bo lost her clear head from sitting too close to dysons magic stick. Bare chested moron.

Bo has become an emotional parasite. She not only feeds sexually from her “friends” she sucks them dry emotionally too. Not much of a hero in my books. The writers are killing the once loveable Bo little by little.

It sounds as though Kenzi will not be back and no apologies for the nasty way she deserted Bo and the rest of her friends in order to live among strangers on an island off Spain. Bo’s reaction was totally understandable – her best friend – who she had just risked everything to rescue from the underworld has basically told her in a very cold and unfeeling way that the friendship was a fake and Bo and go to Hel. Kenzi would never have acted that way and the writers have very badly let down the character and her fans. It will take a while for Bo to fully recover having her heart torn out and tossed in the garbage by the person she loves most

I actually like the episode! Maybe because I’m not a Doccubus fan! lol!;)

I love that Tamsin was flirty with Bo. And she is slowly starting to show her feelings towards Bo. Oh and the bed scene! What a tease!!!!!! That was such a bad timing for Bo to lose her sex drive!!!

And when Tamsin call Bo for giving up at the hospital. I thought it was awesome! Lauren, Dyson and Trick are the one who know Bo the best, but who’s bringing her back to her true self? Yep Tamsin!!! Why didn’t Dyson succeeded in the first place or Lauren even? A lot of people say Doccubus is endgame… I didn’t see it in this episode!

Anyway… I can’t wait to see more Bo/Tamsin interactions in the next episode as roommates and new parterns.

That’s actually not true. Lauren has brought Bo back from a far worse state. For example, when Bo wasn’t even herself anymore because her dad had taken her over and she went dark and nearly killed those around her. Dyson also talked Bo down in the season 4 finale when she was going dark again. Also, in this episode, Tamsin went off on Bo in the lab for being stupid, Bo got pissed off and spoke her fears, then everyone reassured her they wouldn’t leave her. That wasn’t just Tamsin. That was a team effort.

I find it odd that everyone online seems to hate the episode just because Bo hasn’t made a choice. She has been dealing with the loss of her best friend for months, spent all of her time since she watched Kenzi walking into a portal to stop her father from unleashing hell on Earth to find a way to save her, and had that best friend (who is still mourning the loss of her love BTW and had gone through her own traumatic experience) and the only thing people can say is that Bo is unlikable for not automatically being AOK and happily moon faced with Lauren? Quite frankly I think the fans are being selfish and hateful being so angry at Bo for not doing what they want. And why would Bo really care if Lauren has issues with her being with Dyson or not? Lauren broke up with her, left her, then spent weeks lying to her once she came back. Bo has her own needs and if being with Dyson for any reason addresses those needs, then too bad if it upsets Lauren. Bo shouldn’t have to live and make choices just to make one other person happy.

I’m not sure how anyone could watch an episode where Bo is dealing with a heavy emotional setback after holding it together for so long to save Kenzi and see it as her being “unlikable” or an asshat. Especially since the point of the episode was having vulnerabilities does not make one weak. Guess the fans think so. Unless Bo is perfect and sleeping with who they want Bo is a jerk? M’kay.

I loved how the episode highlighted the automatic misogyny of the fae when they all assumed the “great hero” had to have been a male. And that the sister didn’t give a damn about the accolades or she would have said something sooner. But once it was clear her brother was in danger of becoming something horrible she tried to *give him* the opportunity to set things right.